Fatigue life prediction of cylindrical roller bearings subjected to different operating conditions

¹ Department of Mechanical and Industrial Technology, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
² Department of Mechanical and Mechatronics Engineering, Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa
³ Centre for Nanoengineering and Advanced Materials, University of Johannesburg, South Africa
⁴ Eskom Research, Testing & Development, Eskom SOC Ltd Johannesburg, South Africa

^* Corresponding author: tmashiyane12@gmail.com.

Abstract

In rotary and mechanical systems, the fatigue life of bearings is a critical factor to consider if unplanned shutdown is to be prevented. Often, the inner and outer rings of bearings are non-concentric, and this mostly results in axial or angular misalignment. This research employs finite element analysis software, Abaqus CAE and finite element analysis post- processing software, fe-safe to determine the fatigue life of cylindrical roller ball bearings with different degrees of angular misalignments during operation. The results show that a slight degree of angular misalignment increases the developed Hertzian stress, and significantly limits the fatigue life of the bearing.